


i’ll always find you

by watergator



Category: Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF)
Genre: Broken Bones, Holidays, Hurt/Comfort, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-15
Updated: 2019-08-15
Packaged: 2020-09-01 08:48:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,614
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20255398
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/watergator/pseuds/watergator
Summary: dan and phil get lost in a jungle





	i’ll always find you

In theory, the jungle trek to the waterfalls was supposed to be idyllic. Peaceful, even.

It starts off that way, Dan snaps a few photos of the entrance of the walkway that seemingly appears empty, almost like it exists just for them.

They’re advised by the workers at the kiosk to stick to the orange taped trees, and not to stray any further off the specific path. Phil quickly agrees before taking Dan by the hand and dragging him in.

They first encounter a couple of geckos, nothing too scary or unfamiliar from what they’ve already encountered at their villa on the island so far.

The deeper they go, the bigger the lizards become. One darts out in front of Phil’s feet, as big as a London rat, and Phil shrieks, his cry bouncing off the tall trees. Dan laughs and tugs him along and tells him to get over it.

Phil’s doing the same thing back at Dan merely ten minutes later when the climb if getting steeper and the mosquitos are getting meaner.

Dan keeps a constant slapping at his arm pattern whenever something tickles at his skin ever so slightly. Phil even brushes his arm against his bare shoulder a few times just to gage a reaction out of him that causes him to spin around and scowl at him angrily.

The hike is beautiful, the jungle is unlike any London park they’re used to, and they stop a few times to drink water, listening to the different calls of birds that sing throughout the trees, feeling far away from the fat pigeons they have back home.

The walk is tiresome, especially in the sweltering tropical heat, and beads of sweat are not dripping down Dan’s face, his whole head feels like a big damp, curly mess.

He’s dreaming about the cool waterfall water he can jump right into when they find it. 

But that’s the problem… they can’t find it.

“Are you sure we’re going the right way?” Dan asks between a huffed breath. His lungs feel tight and his back is starting to ache with the weight of their backpack. 

Phil stops, obviously using their mind powers to realise this, and holds an arm out of the bag. Dan nods and hands it to him and Phil hikes it up onto his shoulders.

Phil takes a look around them before answering.

“They said follow the orange tape? Right?” Phil looks at the tree where they’ve stopped by, wrapped around the middle part of the trunk is in fact orange tape.

“It can’t be far,” Phil tells him, looking at him and smiling.

Dan lets out a huff and nods.

“Yeah,” he agrees. “Let’s go.”

*

Ten minutes later they cross paths with a small English speaking family, heading the opposite way to where they’re going.

They awkwardly stop them and ask them if they know how far up the waterfall is from here.

The man of the family flashes them a toothy smile, and speaks in a thick Eurpoean accent, and looks upwards.

“About fifteen minutes,” he informs them with a confident nod. “If you walk fast.”

Dan and Phil give an even more awkward chuckle before they say their thanks and they’re on their way, the promise of beautiful scenery and refreshing waterfalls only fifteen minutes away.

*

Either they’re horrendously lost, or perhaps-French dad lied to them.

It’s been another half an hour and they’re still tracking through logs and trees and ropes.

Dan has to haul Phil up some of the way, making sure he doesn’t trip and fall over the steeper parts of the boulders and rocks they climb over.

No waterfall in sight, Dan’s starting to get sick of the jungle. An hour into what he thought was only a half hour walk is now turning into some real Laura Croft shit, which would be pretty cool if he wasn’t sweating out of his ass, and feeling like the inside of his mouth was a desert.

They stop for water again, and Phil tells him that he’s sure they can’t be far. They’re still following the orange tape at least, and Dan supposed that’s true. Maybe French Dad  _ was _ lying to them.

*

Phil randomly brings up the fact that it would be fairly easy to kill someone here, easy to just leave the body here in this jungle and get away with murder.

“You watch too many crime documentaries,” Dan tells him.

Phil laughs from where he’s up ahead of him.

“It’s not my fault Netflix keep brainwashing me with them.”

Dan hums. “Sure, sure. So should I be worried? For my safety?”

Phil stops dead in his tracks, Dan almost smacking into him, where he turns around to give Dan a grin.

“I’d watch your back, Howell,” he winks terribly.

Dan snorts a lazy laugh and pushes at Phil to keep moving.

“I’m the one literally watching your back. Get going, Lester.”

Phil does as he’s good with a slight giggle.

*

Two hours in and it appears French Dad was most definitely an asshole. A massive, horrible asshole. As well as the dickhead that wrote the Google review that said it was only a thirty minute hike.

“Thirty minutes my ass,” Dan mutters under his breath.

They’ve stopped again, taking little sips of their water that seems like it’s starting to run out.

The sun is still beating down on them despite the shade of the trees. There’s a rustle in a nearby patch of long grass has Phil jumping slightly.

“Don’t be scared Philly,” Dan coos at him with a grin. “Death by crocodile would be a cool death at least,” he shrugs, “as opposed to, I dunno, slipping and hitting your head on a rock.”

Phil gives him a pained look. “Don’t even joke. Can you get crocodiles up here? By the mountains?”

Dan shrugs. “I dunno, Mr Animal Facts, you tell me.”

Phil swats him on the arm. “Dingus.”

Dan gives a breathy laugh, “You’re the bigger dingus. Come on, I need to find this fucking waterfall, even if it kills me.”

*

It doesn’t kill them, but it near about tries to. They’ve lost track of how long it’s been since they started their upwards hike, but they know they’re probably way too far to be finding any waterfalls. At least, that’s what Dan’s complaining about, until Phil shushes him and they both strain their ears for the sound of rushing water.

“Oh my god,” Dan groans as Phil starts off again, sure to be telling Dan that it’s this way, he knows it’s this way despite them having no clue where the hell they are.

But sure enough, they follow the sound of water like trained dogs on blood, and they finally come to an opening where a stream is heading downwards.

“It’s no waterfall,” Phil heaves a breath, placing his hands on his knees to catch himself. “But it’s cold water,” he says looking at Dan with a satisfied grin.

“Come on then,” Dan grins back happily skipping over a rock to get to the water.

*

The water is cold. It’s freezing cold and a nice contrast to the open hot, boiling sun on their skin.

Phil takes his baseball cap, self titled merch of course, fills it with water and dunks it on top of his head with a relieved sigh.

Dan laughs at him as water trickles down his face, hair now wet and flat, but Phil ignores him in favour of doing it again just to keep his poor head cool from the sun

He ever lets Dan have a go when he starts to moan.

They splash around between the rocks for a while in their shorts, making sure to stick to where they know they won’t get accident sucked downstream into the actual rapids.

Little fish dart between their toes and Phil can’t help by giggle every time the come up and nibble at his feet

“It’s like a free nature massage,” Phil tells him. They’re sat on a rock, basking in the heat like cats with their feet still dipped into the water where it trickles downwards to keep a cool stream on their skin.

Dan looks up and down the river.

“We’re way off the track here,” Dan tells him.

Phil says nothing and they listen to the sound of nature surrounding them.

Despite the harrowing walk it took to get here, Dan’s glad they have this spot for themselves. It’s like the jungle exists for them, and them only, and it makes his chest feel all fluttery at the thought.

He can’t help the tugging at his lips when he smiles and taps Phil on the shoulder.

“C’mere,” he mumbles as he pulls Phil in and kisses him on the lips.

He tastes like salt, mainly from the sweat that’s probably swiped all over his skin, but Dan doesn’t care.

He tastes like Phil and that’s what matters.

The sun is starting to burn on their backs, so they throw their T-shirt’s back on and slip their shoes back on their feet, grimacing at the wet squish from where they’re wet now.

“I think if we keep heading this way back down the river we should be able to find the waterfall as well as heading back to the entrance,” Phil stands up and looks out down the river like he knows what he’s doing.

Dan watches him take a cautious step forward onto a flat rock as they start the cross against the river.

“Okay,” Dan laughs, splashing cold water onto his hot face before he stands to follow him.

“Lead the way, Bear Grylls.”

Phil laughs and stops to look back at Dan, only a rock away from him. 

“This is my new niche in life, Dan. Without me you might as well be bear food.”

Dan laughs, taking a step forward, about to come out with something witty and sarcastic, when he must take a wobbly step, his foot suddenly slips against a wet rock and he’s flying forward.

He tries to catch himself, his arms flying up and flapping around to save himself from falling in the water, but the rock it too wet under his foot and before he can right himself, his ankle is twisting and slipping off the rock where he falls backwards, landing into the deeper part of the water that engulfs half his body. 

Water invades his mouth and nostrils, and although he’s in shallow enough water where his hands have scraped against the bottom, he panics slightly, before there’s hands lifting him up and he’s spluttering water all over Phil. 

“Easy,” Phil’s voice speaks, his hand comes down on his back a couple of times to get his breathing to calm down.

When it does, he’s suddenly aware of the burst on pain in his left ankle.

“Oh, fuck,” he mutters as he suddenly lifts his foot off the floor and he slips again, Phil there to catch him if he falls again.

“What’s wrong?” Phil asks, the beginnings of panic already bleeding into his tone.

“My fucking ankle,” Dan hisses. The pain suddenly starts to throb, and tears start to burn behind his eyes from the pain as well as the humiliation of falling.

“Okay, let's sit down, okay?” Phil says guiding him through the shin deep water to sit on a large, dry rock.

When they do, Dan’s already started to cry.

Phil lifts Dan’s leg up gently to rest across his lap and at first Dan doesn’t want to look, maybe a mind over matter situation, but curiosity takes over and he’s looking down at his poor ankle.

It looks as bad as it feels. Phil seems to think the same.

“Oh my god,” Dan croaks. He’s starting to feel a bit sick and dizzy now, unsure if it’s from the pain in his foot or from the heat.

“It’s okay,” Phil tries to calm him, his tone not sounding entirely convincing. “I think it’s just sprained.”

Dan isn’t a doctor, and although he hasn’t had a fair share of broken bones in his life, little to none except his pinky finger which barely even counts, he  _ knows _ that the pain in his ankle is more than just a sprain.

He tries to move it, as if to prove a point, but lets out a choked sob and Phil holds his leg down over his lap to make sure he doesn’t move it again.

“Okay,” Phil says, looking away at the purple mess that is now part of Dan’s body, back up at him. 

“We need to… we should…” he starts looking around the river, obviously trying to find something that isn’t there.

“Do you think you could walk? Hop maybe?”

Dan sniffs, and slips his leg off Phil’s lap and puts it down onto the dry floor.

He gingerly steps down on the floor, only putting a slight amount of weight onto it before it becomes unbearable and he’s crying out again, lifting it off the floor like an injured puppy.

“No,” Dan says with a sob. “I don’t think I can.”

Phil looks at him, a crease between his brows and his bottom lip trapped between his teeth as he worryingly tries to figure out what to do.

They’re about three or so hours up the mountain, and with his now injured ankle he’s not sure how long it’s going to take to get back down, as well as the fact that they have no fucking clue where they actually are.

Sunset is at six, and it seems as if the sun is already moving around in the sky. If they found it hard to navigate in the sunlight, god knows they’re going to have an even rougher time trying to do it in the dark.

“Maybe we have signal up here, we can check our phones, yeah?” Phil says with a burst of energy, like he’s sure it’s going to work.

He lets Dan rest on the rock, spins around to where the backpack must’ve been left last before he’s suddenly letting out a frustrated yell.

“Shit!” Phil cries, followed by a splash of water that has Dan twisting round fast enough that it makes his ankle start to throb again.

He watches an angry Phil pull their very soggy, very wet backpack out of a shallow pool of water from where it must have slipped off the rock during all the commotion.

Dan watches him quickly unzip the front pocket where their phones are now damp and unresponsive.

“Are you joking?” Phil almost screams. He’s got his dead phone in one hand and Dan’s in the other.

Usually he’d had a more emotional response to his poor phone being wrecked, but right now Dan feels all tingly and weird.

Phil must notice it because he’s dropping the phone back into the bag and quickly making his way back to Dan.

“Hey,” he says in a gentle voice, a hand on his shoulder. “Hey, Dan?”

He feels far away, and it’s like the pain in his ankle is non existent. Maybe he could walk on it.

“Maybe I can walk on it,” Dan hears himself saying, somehow voicing his own thoughts without even thinking.

His words sound sloshy and strange and Phil’s giving him a concerned look.

“Dan, babe, I think you’re in shock - your ankle, it’s pretty bad.”

Dan shakes his head. He doesn’t believe it.

“No,” he tells him. “We need to go, Phil, and my foot isn’t going to slow us down.”

He goes to stand, but Phil easily keeps him sitting.

“Stay here, keep your feet in the water okay?” Phil tells him. He’s now crouching down to take Dan’s shoes off carefully.

He throws them to the backpack uncaring.

“Keep them in the water,” Phil tells him again to reiterate. “It’ll at least help the swelling somewhat.”

Dan nods. He feels too tired to get up again now anyway.

Phil looks behind him where the opening is.

“Take my hat,” Phil says as he pulls it off his head. His hair is sticking up and a little crazy in places but neither of them seem to care.

“Remember to keep your head cool,” he says as he scoops the water back up again and tips it over Dan’s head.

“The bottle is here,” he speaks slowly, handing Dan their water bottle. “Drink slowly. Slowly, Dan, and make sure you actually drink it.”

Dan nods again and grips the bottle with weak hands.

“You’ll be okay, just do  _ not _ move from this rock, you hear me?”

Dan nods before he realises what’s going on.

“Wait,” he croaks. “Where you goin’?”

Phil stands back up and the water drips off his legs.

“I’m gonna head out for a little bit. I’ll have a look, see if it’s the right way and maybe someone can help us, yeah?”

Dan blinks before he reaches up and touching his fingers against his cheek.

“Come back, yeah?”

Phil smiles at him before taking his hand and pressing his knuckles to his lips, kissing him there.

“Of course. Stay here, okay?”

Dan nods again, and watches him leave.

*

It feels like hours. The sun is starting to move away from him, which is nice, before he remembers that it means it’ll be getting dark soon, and Phil hasn’t come back yet.

He’s now laying flat on the rock despite how uncomfortable it is on his back, but his whole leg is now in agony and he’s sure the shock from before has definitely worn off.

He’s comforted by the sound of running water until it seems a little daunting.

He’s all alone here, just him in this part of the jungle, maybe no other humans for miles upon miles, and he’s starting to miss Phil.

His foot hurts, his belly is starting to growl and he’s feeling thirsty from where he’s drank all his water already despite Phil’s instructions on sipping it slowly.

He wants to go home, to England, where his bed is comfy and there’s no jungle or broken bones and he can walk to the fridge and grab a snack.

He’s not sure if he’s supposed to drink river water but it’s starting to get tempting from how hot he is and how thirsty he’s becoming.

He starts to cry, little tears escape him from how useless he feels. A lovely jungle date on a beautiful tropical island, just him and his partner of course had gone terribly wrong.

His mind instantly goes to the sims episode where Dab and Evan have their own jungle adventure and how that too has its ups and downs, and it makes him laugh. 

He probably sounds like a maniac, laughing and crying whilst sprawled out on a rock in a river in the middle of the jungle whilst his foot is fucked to jelly. If anyone saw him like this, rescuing him would be their last idea.

The sun is starting to set and worry is settling in.

The sky goes from a vibrant blue to a pink orange swirl and Dan’s already planning on what the hell he's going to tell Kath if he ever gets out of here and has to explain how he so easily lost her son.

He’s halfway through his mental apology to his poor, grieving mother in law when he hears a rustle in the bush just the other side of the river.

He gulps, throat tight and dry as he scans his eyes across the bushes as to what it could be.

If he’s doing to be eaten out here, he wants to know what it is before he goes. Even if it is cannibals.

“Hello?” He calls out, already regretting his stupid decisions as soon as the words leave his mouth.

The rustling stops and Dan takes in a sharp breath from where pain blooms in his ankle again.

“Fuck,” he cries sadly to himself as he looks down at it.

The icy cold water may have helped only slightly with the swelling, but the feeling of pain still resides in his ankle and it doesn’t seem to be going away, only getting worse.

He’s really had enough now, feeling sick with worry for Phil and anger that he stupidly let himself fall over a rock and hurt himself this badly, when he hears a faint voice call his name from inside the depths of the jungle.

For a moment he wonders if he passed out and knocked his head and is simply hallucinating, but the voice calls out again, this time a little louder and clearer over the water, and he recognises it as Phil’s voice.

He smiles to himself, laughing a weak laugh that has his chest bouncing up and down as he lays down on his rock.

“I’m here!” He calls out, voice straining and weak.

He hears footsteps marching through grass grow closer and closer, and it’s not until he looks up that he realises it’s more than one set of feet coming towards him.

He looks up and blinks, Phil is in his vision, peering over him, he’s smiling but his expression still reads as concerned.

“You came back,” Dan whispers and Phil immediately cracks with wet sounding laughter.

“Yeah,” Phil whispers, running a hand through wet curls. “I told you I would.”

The people Phil brought with him turned out to be a rescue team. They’re dressed in safari looking clothes and speak good enough English for Phil to explain to them how bad Dan’s ankle is and how he can’t actually walk.

They do as much as they can with what little medical supplies they have in their box they’ve brought along with them, but they tell them both that they’ll need a hospital, and they’ll call for a truck to come get them.

Dan’s bewildered as to how they’re going to get a truck all the way up here, but twenty minutes later and one has arrived for him.

He’s sat in the back with Phil and the two rangers, and they strap him and his leg down as the go down the bumpy road all the way to the bottom.

Phil holds his hand the whole time, even when he starts to look a little carsick.

*

They manage to finally get out of the jungle, and once they’re back on flat ground where they started all those hours ago, there’s a real ambulance waiting for them, courtesy of the workers calling ahead for them.

Phil thanks they whilst they get Dan in, and he’s instantly greeted with a plethora of drugs.

He’s barely even worrying about his ankle or insurance or the possible sunstroke he has right now, cooking his brain into mashed potato; he’s just so fucking glad to be out of that jungle and somewhere safe.

He squints his eyes open at Phil who still has his hand in a tight grip.

“Don’t go anywhere after this,” Dan mutters, his breath fogging up the plastic mask over his nose and mouth.

Phil laughs, running a thumb over sunburnt knuckles.

“I’m here,” he tells him. “I’m here.”

*

When Dan wakes up he has that momentarily second of panic where he can’t remember where he is.

The white walls are unfamiliar and he sits up with a sharp breath before he catches sight of a sleeping Phil by his bedside and it’s all it takes for everything to come rushing back.

He places a hand over his heart where it’s beating hard.

It’s then that he feels the snag of an IV line in his hand, and the heavy feeling on his left leg.

His head feels swarmed and his whole body aches like he’s just spent the last couple of days in a boxing ring having the absolute crap knocked out of him.

He tries to sit up when Phil suddenly wakes.

He looks scared for a moment, blue eyes wide and wild as they dart around the room, finally resting on Dan where he relaxes and smiles.

“Oh,” he croaks, his voice still holding onto the huskiness of sleep. “You’re awake.”

Dan hums, feeling a headache already starting to blossom behind his eyes. “How long was I out for?”

Phil sits up on his plastic chair, arms thrown over his head where he yawns loudly.

“You were in and out for the most part after we got here, then after surgery you pretty much slept the whole day up until now.”

Dan stares at him with a frown, “Surgery?”

Phil hums tiredly, scooching forward to rest his chin on the bed and let his eyes close shut.

“Mmh hmm,” he hums. “They said you might not remember all of it, you were in shock and pretty dehydrated. You broke your leg, babe.”

Dan holds his breath for a moment before letting it all go.

Phil lifts his head and takes a corner of the blanket in his grip, pulling it upwards.

Dan does the same on the other side and is greeted by his long legs outstretched below him as normal.

Except this time, one of them is covered in a grey cast, reaching up from his ankle all the way up to his knee. He tries to bend it but it doesn’t work very well.

“You’re on a crazy amount of pain medication right now,” Phil tells him with a smile. “So it shouldn’t be hurting. Right?” 

Dan nods, looking back at the cast on his leg.

“I’m not very good at remembering all the sciency stuff, it’s on the insurance records which, by the way, _thank_fully cover you for this,” he says with a half laugh. 

“But you broke your ankle, ripped your tendon and shattered a bone in your fibula too.”

Dan swallows thickly. “Shit,” he whispers.

Phil makes a sad face before reaching up and brushing a curl off his face. 

“I know,” he says, “it is pretty shit, isn’t it?”

Dan nods before nuzzling his head into Phil’s palm like a puppy. Phil laughs at him before pulling his hand away and looking at him.

“I’m just so glad you’re okay,” he says, voice edging on real seriously Phil mode now.

“I was so scared in that jungle, that I’d come back to get you and something worse had happened.”

Dan smiles at him, giggling until he can’t stop. Maybe the drugs are taking their toll on him now.

“Silly sausage,” Dan shakes his head. “I was the one worried about  _ you! _

Phil snorts with a shake of his head in disbelief. He finds Dan’s hand on the bed and holds it, lacing their fingers together so tight they might never get free.

“Did I ruin our holiday?” Dan asks in a quiet voice. He’s thinking about how they still have a week left, how Phil’s going to have to spend that time, as well as when they get home, taking care of him just because Dan can’t walk across wet rocks properly and -

“Dan.” Phil’s voice cuts through his anxieties and thoughts in an instant.

“I don’t care about the holiday,” he tells him, squeezing his hand. “I care about you more.”

Dan sniffs. 

“I’d rather you be okay than having a bloody beach day,” he laughs. 

It sets Dan off because he laughs too.

He doesn’t realise he’s crying until Phil wipes away a tear from his cheek.

“Love you,” Dan whispers, feeling surprisingly sleepy all of a sudden.

Phil must be able to tell because he leans forward and places a kiss on his forehead, warm and sweet.

“Love you too, get some rest.”

Dan smiles, and does exactly that.

**Author's Note:**

> i had to write this after this happened to me yesterday (minus the serious injury) so feel free to laugh at me for getting lost for six hours in an actual jungle lol
> 
> come say hi on tumblr @ watergator !!


End file.
